In the summer of 2022, an explosion destroyed the granite monument known as The Georgia Guidestones. Modeled after Stonehenge, the structure was built in 1980 and backed by a mysterious group of sponsors led by pseudonymous figure RC Christian. The purpose of the Guidestones – and the true identity of the man who built them – has been secret ever since. Were the Guidestones a pillar for Satanism, a guide to bring in the New World Order, or simply the work of an eccentric millionaire? Conspiracy Theories is on Instagram @theconspiracypod! Follow us to keep up with the show and get behind-the-scenes updates from Carter and the team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What happened to the Georgia Guidestones on July 6, 2022?
It's the early hours of July 6th, 2022. Most of the residents of Elberton, Georgia are in bed asleep. Around 4 a.m., there's an explosion. Matt Beasley's house shakes like someone slammed a door too hard. Peggy Gross thinks a tree has fallen onto her house. Framed photos fall off Wayne and Mildred Mullinex's walls. No one knows what caused the boom until a few hours later.
Chapter 2: Who speculated on the cause of the Guidestones' destruction?
Commuters passing Guidestones Road see that their local landmark... The Georgia Guidestones has been destroyed. Twitter lights up and the conspiracy fires are stoked. Some speculate on who is responsible for the detonation. Fingers are pointed at everyone from aliens to the Illuminati. But one tweet sticks out from the rest. It's from former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Candace Taylor.
She says God himself struck down the Guidestones because the monument was the work of Satan. Welcome to Conspiracy Theories, a Spotify podcast. I'm Carter Roy. New episodes come out every Wednesday. You can listen to the audio everywhere and watch the video only on Spotify. And be sure to check us out on Instagram at The Conspiracy Pod. Stay with us.
Chapter 3: What was the purpose and design of the Georgia Guidestones?
The Georgia Guidestones were located in a grassy field not too far from downtown Elberton, Georgia, off Highway 77. At over 19 feet tall and weighing more than 245,000 pounds, they loomed over the green field. The stones were arranged in an X pattern, with one central pillar and four stones that fanned out from the middle with a capstone on top.
An engraving on the capstone was written in four ancient languages, Babylonian, Classical Greek, Sanskrit, and Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. When translated to English, it read, "...let these be guidestones to an age of reason." The four other stones were also engraved on both sides.
Unlike the capstone, this text is written in eight different languages, English, Spanish, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, traditional Chinese, and Russian. The engravings on these four stones are the 10 guides. Number one, maintain humanity under 500 million in perpetual balance with nature. Number two, guide reproduction wisely, improving fitness and diversity.
7.
1.
Channel through stone indicates celestial pole. 2. Two, horizontal slot indicates annual travel of sun. Three, sunbeam through capstone marks noontime throughout the year. It was signed, author R.C. Christian. Lastly, it mentioned a time capsule placed six feet below this spot. There was no specified date for when the capsule should be opened.
Some unknown man built the Georgia Guidestones for some unknown purpose. They look like the monolith from 2001 A Space Odyssey and had etchings that sound vaguely apocalyptic. It's hard to imagine all of that not eliciting a swarm of conspiracy theories. And boy, did it. From the moment the slabs were erected in 1980, they mystified the residents of Elberton.
A local minister predicted a satanic sacrifice would take place at the site. Graffiti left on the stones read, Death to the New World Order. Some thought witches were using the monument to cast spells. It came to a head in mid-2022 as gubernatorial candidate Candace Taylor ramped up her campaign. That May, she posted a video ad on social media.
The ad features shots of the Georgia Guidestones while Taylor narrates. She says, "...the new world order is here, and they told us it was coming. It's a battle far greater than what we see in the natural. It is a war between good and evil." She outlines her executive orders should she win the race. Her last one is simple— demolish the Georgia Guidestones.
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Chapter 4: Who was R.C. Christian and what was his vision for the Guidestones?
The Guidestones were far from the only granite-constructed wonder within the city limits. Elberton is home to more than 45 quarries, which produce around 250,000 granite markers and monuments per year. The local football team, the Blue Devils, play in the Granite Bowl, a stadium made from over 100,000 tons of local granite. But the summer of 1979 would bring Elberton its biggest project to date.
That June, a well-dressed, middle-aged man entered the office of Joe H. Fenley, president of the Elberton Granite Finishing Company. He introduced himself as Robert C. Christian, or R.C. Christian. He told Fenley of an ambitious monument he wanted to build in Elberton, one that would be dedicated to the conservation of mankind. He wanted to leave a message for future generations.
Christian had been inspired by Stonehenge, He explained that he had traveled and visited many statues and monoliths throughout Europe, and Stonehenge particularly resonated with him. He'd made a small wooden model of his vision for the Guidestones, which resembled the English monument, itself a target of conspiracy theories and questions about its meaning.
Fenley thought the whole thing could be a hoax, until this RC Christian started talking numbers. He said he could pay six figures for Fenley and his team to build the monument, the size of which had never been constructed in Elberton before. Fenley gave Christian the address of the Granite City Bank, half expecting to never see this so-called RC Christian again.
But Christian, following Fenley's directions, headed to the Granite City Bank and the office of the bank president, Wyatt C. Martin. He gave Martin the same pitch that he did to Fenley, describing his ambitious monument with excitement. He also revealed to Martin that R.C. Christian was not his real name.
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Chapter 5: How did the community react to the Guidestones over the years?
To explain his choice of a false identity, Christian claimed to be representing not just himself, but a band of anonymous people who live outside of georgia he said they were a small group of loyal americans who believe in god rc christian was the name that spoke for all of them this project was their most important work they'd been working on the plans for it for 20 years
martin echoed fenley's skepticism but if christian could provide a deposit martin agreed to act as the financial intermediary for the project but there was one other condition he wanted to know christian's true identity christian gave martin his real name in a small bit of his biography He said he'd served in World War II, traveled the globe, and at one point he was a concrete worker.
His only tie to Georgia was through his great-grandmother, who was from there. Christian also gave Martin enough financial information for the banker to be assured the man could pay for the project. Then Christian had some conditions of his own. He asked Martin to sign a nondisclosure agreement stating he would never reveal Christian's true identity.
The agreement also stipulated that Martin would destroy any information pertaining to the construction and development of the project after it was completed. Martin signed the forms. In regards to the financial deposit, Christian sent Martin money from multiple banks across the United States so that he could not be traced. It was clear this man was serious about his secrecy.
But he did seem to have the money to pay for the stones. So with a $10,000 deposit in the bank and Martin's financial go-ahead, Joe Finley and his company officially started working on the construction of the stones in the summer of 1979. The material Christian approved for the stones was pyramid blue granite from Fenley's Pyramid Quarry. It took weeks to remove 28-ton stone out of the quarry.
Then each stone needed to be cut down to Christian's requested size, which took another nine months. While Fenley and his company worked on the stones, it was up to Martin to help scout potential sites to place them. Christian had requested an area that was visible to the public, but not so central it would become a tourist attraction.
Martin suggested a five-acre plot of land located about eight miles north of Elberton. It was part of a farm owned by Wayne and Mildred Mullinex. The grassy field was perfect. It was near a road, so it was easy to access, but not too close to the town center. And it was the highest point in Elbert County, ideal for visibility.
To sweeten the deal, Christian offered the Mullinexes two generations of grazing rights on the grass surrounding the Guidestones if the monument could be forever housed on the land. For $5,000, Wayne signed over the five-acre plot. With the money set and the land acquired, it was time for Christian to disappear.
He bid Fenley one last farewell at his office once all the pieces were set in motion that summer of 1979. Before leaving, he said, you'll never see me again. And just as suddenly as he had appeared that June afternoon, he disappeared into thin air. All future communication from Christian was conveyed through Martin via letters sent from different cities across the country.
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Chapter 6: What are the conspiracy theories surrounding the Guidestones?
The column also had to have a slot that aligned with the position of the rising sun during solstices and equinoxes. The specifications also demanded an aperture, so the sun's light could pass through at noon each day. The idea was for the stones to act as a sundial, where you would be able to tell the time and the event of apocalyptic fallout. Then there were the engraved guidelines.
Fenley hired sandblaster Charlie Clamp to etch over 4,000 individual letters into the stones, which required hundreds of hours to complete. 951 cubic feet of granite and about 245,000 pounds later, the Georgia Guidestones were unveiled on March 22, 1980. Roughly 400 people gathered to watch. Television crews from Atlanta came to document the event.
Mayor Jack Wheeler and Congressman Doug Barnard Jr. led the ceremony. The Guidestones drew immediate global interest, and the small town of Elberton became a destination for tourists from Japan, China, and India. In 1993, Yoko Ono even wrote a song about the Stones. They played host to the strange and esoteric.
Nani Batchelder, a psychic counselor, believed there was a healing energy within the stones. Pagan worshippers made pilgrimages to the Guidestones where they'd dance and chant. Multiple visitors noted feeling a strong energy when visiting the monument. During construction, even sandblaster Charlie Clamp said he heard strange music and disjointed voices when he was engraving the stones.
And perhaps for the same reasons, the Guidestones drew outrage. Reverend James Travenstead, a local minister, was one of the first skeptics to voice his opinions. Given the ten guidelines he predicted, someday a sacrifice will take place here. He thought the stones were the work of Satanists.
as former elberton granite association employee hudson cone told the new york times to some it's the holiest spot on earth to others it's a monument to the devil a monument to the devil is likely the way former georgia gubernatorial candidate candace taylor saw it but where does that belief come from and has it found it Is it simply the energy some people felt when they visited the Guidestones?
Is it the enigmatic nature of its creator? Or has the truth been in front of us the entire time? In R.C. Christian's Manifesto. In 1986, six years after the Georgia Guidestones were unveiled, R.C. Christian released a book entitled Common Sense Renewed. The book expands on the ideas engraved on the stones. It also gave rise to a theory that R.C. Christian was an agent of the New World Order.
Now, we've discussed the New World Order more than once on this podcast. It references a broad conspiracy about a cabal of elites who control most of the world governments and economies from the shadows.
Many theories contend that the cabal's master plan is to trigger a doomsday scenario, one which will kill all but a select few humans, who will then be tasked with repopulating the Earth according to strict guidelines. Maybe guidelines etched out on guide stones. Recall the text written on the slabs of stone that I read earlier in the episode.
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